PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON THE PARASITIC NEMATODE DELADENUS SIRICIDICOLA ASSOCIATED TO MONOCHAMUS SPP. IN PINE WOODS OF CAMPANIA REGION, ITALY

During phytosanitary monitoring activities carried out in southern Italy (Campania) in the years 2018-2021 and focused on pine sawyer beetles of the genus Monochamus spp., considered potential insect vectors of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the facultative parasitic nematode Deladenus siricidicola (Nematoda Neotylenchidae) has been collected from adult beetles of Monochamus galloprovincialis. D. siridicicola is the primary biological control agent largely applied against the wood wasp Sirex noctilio (Hymenoptera Siricidae), an invasive pest of Southern Hemisphere and North America, where it heavily damages pine wood plantation allowing the spread of its symbiotic organism, the white-rot agent Amylostereum areolatum. The interesting record of this beneficial nematode associated with a pine sawyer beetle of the genus Monochamus represents an opportunity to investigate the relationships of D. siridicicola with other organism in forest ecosystems and could lead to a new step in the control of the threat posed by the harmful Pine wood nematode B. xylophilus.